Clifton out for at least a few games

Read about it anywhere. Not good. I think Clifton’s presence gives Rodgers a lot of comfort out there. Without Clifton, Rodgers looked edgy immediately – something we rarely see from him anymore. While he did get taken down a few times Sunday night, he/McCarthy/Newhouse/Sherrod figured out a way to make it work and it ended up being fine.

But my concern is that we will be playing against some fairly disruptive pass rushers in the coming weeks. Chris Long for StL is a good rusher, but more concerning are Minnesota’s Jared Allen and Brian Robison. Allen leads the NFL in sacks at 8.5 and Robison has 4.5 – tied for 9th. Allen is particularly scary at home (where the Pack plays in 2 weeks) and because he’s coming from the left side which is Rodgers’ blindside.

Clifton is far more valuable to this team right now than a “stopgap” guy is. He has been fantastic the last year and a half. (He was in decline the couple years prior to that but I think he’s improved his play recently in good part because he likes playing with Rodgers.) But the other concern is that the guy they drafted to replace him, Sherrod, has not been considered “ready” by the team. Newhouse filled in for Bulaga and then made the move to LT Sunday because Sherrod was not considered ready. Sherrod was an emergency throw-in Sunday. He didn’t do terribly but he looked raw. I can sort of get behind the idea of giving Newhouse a shot, though his game against Denver was quite poor. Bottom line is that we’ll miss Clifton.

Sorry Rusty you are dead wrong. LT is the key Olinman in In MM’s offense. They can’t throw an experienced player into the mix now. You might get away with it against the Rams, but not against the Queenies Dline. They can still come at you. There must be an Oline in place that will offer AR the best possible protection.

Hopefully, Bulaga comes back this week and starts at LT. Move Newsome back to RT and Sherrod to backup. If Cliffie is done for the yerar, they will have to bring another Olineman to the 53 man roster. Either from the PS or a FA after the bye week. The only backup on the 53 man roster now is EDS, a guy who was released once, maybe twice.

ronlc1, I had no intention to down play the injury. But they did score on 5 out of 7 drives with Newhouse and Sherrod playing, and the receivers dropping big passes. Think Finley dropped a 3rd down pass on one of the punts… Again, not saying this doesn’t suck… but what team can loose a LT and not have it hurt? That said, Atlanta isn’t great at rushing the passer.

They’ll have to sign someone for the O-line anyway. They were carrying eight (I think) to start the year. It would be tough to get a guy who can play tackle. We’ll see what the two inexperienced guys can do. It sounds like MM is considering Bulaga at LT, you may be ahead of the curve there.

Marshall Newhouse is gonna be just fine at LT, keep Bulaga at RT and Sherrod can backup both positions. Thats how I would play it after seeing how well Newhouse has played there in TC and the preseason and then against Atlanta. Hes not as good at RT so until he proves he can’t play LT, he gets the nod there for the time being.